" Stop printing the ballots. Don't waste money on those "for your consideration" Oscar ads. There is but one contender for best supporting actor this year, and it is Tom Wilkinson in Michael Clayton. "

John Halecky

ReelzChannel.com, October 12, 2007

George Clooney plays the title character in this legal thriller from writer/director Tony Gilroy. Clooney is a ‘fixer’ lawyer at a huge law firm in New York City. He’s the one you call when you have a situation you need cleaned up discreetly. When one of the firm’s top lawyers Arthur Edens (Tom Wilkinson) has a meltdown and is about to blow one of the largest cases they have, Clayton gets tasked to reign him in to fix the problem. Once Clayton starts to delve deeper into what made Edens break down and what he is talking about, he starts to discover that there are some more devious dealings happening behind closed doors than previously thought.

Clooney is rock solid in his performance as a lawyer who wrestles with his conscience and can’t get out from under his troubles which include gambling, a divorce and a failed restaurant business. Tom Wilkinson shines as the borderline crazy supporting lawyer who might just be on to something. And Tilda Swinton gives a reserved, restrained performance as an insecure litigator whose career rests on the outcome of the case. This is definitely a legal thriller in the vein of The Pelican Briefor The Devil’s Advocate, which writer/director Tony Gilroy also penned. It’s not as uplifting as Erin Brockovich, but it’s not as much of a downer as A Civil Action.

I liked this movie but I wanted to love it. It’s entertaining enough and the final showdown scene between Clayton and Swinton’s character is great, but I wanted it to be more. Maybe I found it tough to relate to and feel sorry for a high paid New York lawyer who has gotten himself to this point in his life with his debt and other struggles when that is the choice he must have made when he began his career at this firm. He chose to be this ‘fixer’ and now he’s having a change of heart? Maybe it’s too little too late for Clayton. He could use his own fixer.